Commander Golovin. The meaning of Fedor Alekseevich Golovin in a brief biographical encyclopedia

Fyodor Alekseevich Golovin lived at the junction of medieval and modern Russian history. He did not stand out on the battlefields or in naval battles; his talents as an organizer and diplomat were largely overshadowed by the gigantic figure of the tsar himself, the military victories of Russia, or hidden from the eyes of his contemporaries by professional secrets.

This is largely why the biography of F.A. Golovin, less than other associates of Peter the Great, is supported by research, published sources, and testimonies of memoirists. With all that, F.A. Golovin was one of the most significant figures of the country's political Olympus in the first half of Peter's reign. In 1714 - 1715 Brunswick-Lüneburg resident F.H. Weber saw the portrait of F.A. Golovin with the Latin inscription: “Whoever fulfills his position with all his soul, with zeal and skill, is only capable of great and extraordinary deeds.” This statement by Cicero was the vital credo of the Admiral General, the de facto head of the Posolsky and seven other orders of Peter the Great.

Compiled in 1687 to record the genealogies of the most noble families, the Velvet Book and the genealogies themselves tell the story of the origin of the boyar and noble families of the Golovins, Gryaznys, Tretyakovs, and Khovrins from the descendants of “Prince Gothia” Stefan Vasilyevich, who “left” with his son Grigory to the court of the Grand Duke Dmitry Ivanovich Donskoy from his Crimean estates in Surozh (Sudak), Cafe (on the site of Feodosia), Balaklava and Mankupa. According to family legend, Stefan was a descendant of the Byzantine imperial family of the Komnins (distorted: Khovrins), although researchers consider this version to be legendary: Stefan’s son Gregory received the nickname Khovra (sluggish, timid, unkempt) already in Russia. In general, S.B. Veselovsky believed that only Stefan’s Greek origin was unconditional, and the historian questioned his princely title and the presence of such large estates.

The son of Gregory, Vladimir, is named in the Ermolin Chronicle as “a guest and also a bolyarin of the Grand Duke” Vasily the Dark, and in the Ustyug vault he is named treasurer. He was one of the richest people in Russia in the second half of the 15th century; he had estates in the Moscow and Dmitrov districts. In 1449 - 1450 in Moscow, in his yard, he built a stone Church of the Exaltation, “on Simonovo he erected a brick Church of the Transfiguration... and within the Cathedral of the Archangel Michael... and a brick fence near the monastery...”

Vladimir Grigorievich had five sons. The elder Ivan (d. 1509) became the founder of the Golovins. According to family legend, he received the nickname Head allegedly because he was the godson and special confidant of Grand Duke Ivan III Vasilyevich. He was distinguished by his energy and zeal for service. In 1473, Ivan Golova, together with his father, monitored the progress of work on the construction of the Assumption Cathedral in the Kremlin, and in 1485 he built brick chambers for his family near the Chudov Monastery. Ivan Golova had two sons: Ivan, who died early, nicknamed Skryaba, and Peter (d. 1524/1525), who was the first to be written in documents by Golovin. In 1512/1513 Peter became treasurer. Six of his sons were okolnichy. One of them, Peter, was a confidant of Grand Duke Vasily III Ivanovich and was even present during the preparation of his spiritual document. In 1519 he was mentioned as treasurer. The descendants of Pyotr Ivanovich gave rise to six branches of Golovins - Khovrins. From a representative of the younger branch, the grandson of the okolnichy Pyotr Petrovich (d. 1645), the count family of the Golovins originated. According to A.M. Kurbsky in February 1565, at the very beginning of the oprichnina, a participant in the capture of Kazan in 1562, Pyotr Petrovich Golovin, was executed - “the husband of the Gretz family, very noble and rich, the son of a zemstvo treasurer; and then his brother Mikhail Petrovich.” For their eternal remembrance, relatives made a great contribution to the Simonov Monastery.

The Golovins - Khovrins became boyars at a time when it was extremely difficult for “new people” to penetrate this class. No less than wealth, this was facilitated by the businesslike, organizational and administrative abilities characteristic of representatives of the clan. Caring for the preservation and increase of the sovereign's treasury becomes their family business. In the XV - XVI centuries. The Golovins almost hereditarily occupied the position of treasurer. It required knowledge of finance and trading skills, so merchants and moneylenders were often appointed to it. Under Ivan III and Vasily II, the Golovins were involved in carrying out diplomatic assignments. Educated people, they were aware of the socio-political problems of the Russian society of that time. This is clearly evidenced, in particular, by their correspondence with Joseph Volotsky. Through the daughters of the Golovins, the Khovrins were related to the most prominent Russian boyar and princely families of the Patrikeevs, Kholmskys, Pronskys, Obolenskys and even the grand ducal house.

The heavenly patron of the Golovin-Khovrin family was St. Alexey, Metropolitan of Moscow. In 1522, in the family estate, the village of Alekseevskoye (Bolshaya Golovinshchina), in the Ryazan region, a temple was built in his honor, in which a piece of the relics of the saint was kept. For three centuries, the Golovins - Khovrins maintained close ties with the one founded on their lands at the end of the 14th century. Simonov Monastery: they made significant financial contributions, subsidized construction work, buried their relatives, and became monks. At the beginning of the 15th century. They laid the foundation for monastery stone construction, which was an extremely expensive and exceptional undertaking in Moscow at that time: “Grigory Khovra and his wife Agripina started the Simonov monastery, and they erected a large stone church and erected many cells. And they are remembered in the daily lithium lists and in the eternal synodikes...”

The grandfather of our hero, steward of Tsar Mikhail Fedorovich - Pyotr Petrovich, was sent to Siberia in 1638. There he brought the Tungus and Yakut tribes into submission and regulated the yasak tax from them. In search of lands suitable for arable farming, the steward sent reconnaissance expeditions to study the area of ​​Lake Baikal and the basins of the Ilima, Indigirka, and Yanga rivers. P.P. Golovin returned to Moscow only in 1644. In 1652 he was granted okolnichy and two years later appointed governor of Kashira. In 1654 P.P. Golovin was among the persons through whom Bogdan Khmelnitsky submitted a request to accept Little Russia into Russian citizenship.

Father - okolnichy Alexey Petrovich - since 1677 he served in the Yamsky order and the Order of monetary collections. In 1681 he was sent by the governor to Astrakhan, then to Simbirsk (from 1684). As the Tobolsk voivode (1686 - 1689), he organized the first delimitation of the lands of Siberia and fortified the city with an earthen rampart. One of F.A.'s uncles Golovin - Vasily Petrovich - during the voivodeship in Toropets and Belgorod, he took part in repelling the raids of the Crimeans. The other is the steward, boyar (from 1682) Mikhail Petrovich, who, by resolution of the Duma, was in charge of Moscow during the Streltsy riot of 1688.

About the childhood and youth of F.A. Golovin, very little news has survived. He was born in 1650 and received his early education in his father's house. The boy turned out to be extremely inquisitive, receptive to knowledge, which he constantly improved throughout his subsequent hectic life. His written Russian was impeccable. The young man was taught Latin by the translator of the Rank Order, Andrei Belobotsky, a graduate of the Faculty of Philosophy and Theology of the University of Krakow. Subsequently F.A. Golovin read Latin classics fluently and corresponded in this language. During the diplomatic career of F.A. Golovin independently studied Mongolian and English. D.N. Bantysh-Kamensky wrote that in 1676, on his deathbed, Alexey Mikhailovich bequeathed F.A. Golovin, G.I. Golovkin, K.P. Naryshkin, P.I. Prozorovsky will cherish the young Tsarevich Peter like the apple of his eye. In 1681, solicitor F.A. Golovin was with his father in Astrakhan. Having proven himself well, he received the rank of steward.

Nomination of F.A. Golovin’s rise to the top of the career ladder began with his important diplomatic mission on the eastern outskirts of the country.

From the middle of the 17th century. Russian “eager” people began to actively develop the lands of the Amur region (Dauria) in the basins of the Shilka, Argun, and Amur rivers. The native tribes of the Achans, Buryats, Daurs, Duchers, Nanais, Evenks were brought into obedience and paid an annual tribute of 40 - 50 forty sables in the amount of 7 - 9 thousand rubles. In addition to furs, the Amur and its tributaries turned out to be rich in pearls, and the land was suitable for agriculture. The Russian administration promoted peasant colonization to create a food base for the entire Eastern Siberia. The Albazinsky fort, built in 1654 on the site of a fortified town of the Daurs, became a stronghold of Russian influence in the East. Due to the indignation of the Mongol tribes, the town turned into the main gate of Russian trade with China. Realizing the economic and military-political significance of Dauria, the government in 1682 created an independent Albazin voivodeship.

The lack of military forces forced the Russian government to avoid conflicts with China, which laid claim to this fertile land. To settle relations, an embassy of F.I. was sent to Beijing in 1655. Ba(o)ykova, in 1675 - N. Sapphariya. However, Russian diplomatic missions then ended in failure. The Qing government relied on strength and inciting anti-Russian sentiments among the native and neighboring Mongol tribes. In 1684, the Manchus besieged Albazin for several months to no avail. The next year, the half-thousand-strong garrison could not withstand the onslaught of the Manchus' many times superior forces and left the fort. The enemy destroyed the fortifications, but after the Chinese left, the fort was rebuilt in its original place. In July 1686, Albazin was again besieged and held back the enemy's onslaught for ten months. Of the 826 people, only 70 survived.

In the conditions of continuous wars with the Crimean Tatars and Turkey, the government was not able to provide effective assistance to the Russian population of Dauria, therefore, taking advantage of the formal appeal of Emperor Kang-xi in 1685 to the tsar about the need to delimit borders, it decided to achieve a peace treaty with the Celestial Empire. December 25, 1685 thirty-five-year-old F.A. Golovin was appointed great and plenipotentiary ambassador to China with the title of governor of Bryansk; at the same time he was transferred from junior steward to closer. The second ambassador was the Nerchinsk governor, steward and governor of Elatom I.A. Vlasov, the third was clerk Semyon Koritsky. I.A. Vlasov and S. Koritsky had previously served in Siberia for many years and were well versed in the situation there. A small retinue of five young nobles and three clerks was assigned to the embassy. The translator from Latin, apparently at the insistence of the ambassador, was his longtime home teacher A. Belobotsky. Having learned about such a “mercy,” the foreign serviceman fled from his yard, and the bailiffs of the Ambassadorial Prikaz searched for him throughout Moscow for four days. 506 archers were assigned to guard the embassy.

D.N. Bantysh-Kamensky interpreted the appointment of F.A. Golovin as a kind of disgrace on the part of the head of the Ambassadorial Prikaz V.V. Golitsyn, caused by commitment to Tsar Peter. However, most likely, when determining the staff of the embassy, ​​Princess Sophia’s favorite was guided primarily by business qualities, and not by personal favor. The customs and norms of Chinese diplomacy in Moscow were not known; this required great organizational skills, resourcefulness and initiative from the ambassador. Due to the complexity of the situation on the border, F.A. Golovin was endowed with not only diplomatic, but also extremely broad administrative functions. The credentials ordered that the border be established along the Amur River to its tributaries Bureya and Zeya, and that an article on mutual and unhindered trade be included in the treaty. As a last resort, to achieve peace, the ambassador had to agree to the Albazin border, i.e. make territorial concessions to China. In the event of failure to sign a peace treaty, F.A. Golovin was instructed to take care of repelling the enemy invasion. The ambassador was supposed to pacify the rebellious native tribes and restore peaceful relations with the Mongol khans (taishas).

Following the instructions to “hurry without any detention,” on January 26, 1686, the embassy left Moscow on 270 sleighs on packed snow. On March 24, having passed Pereyaslavl, Yaroslavl, Vologda, Veliky Ustyug, Solvychegodsk, Kaigorod, Solikamsk, Verkhoturye, Tyumen and having covered 3,735 miles, the ambassadors arrived in the capital of Siberia - Tobolsk. Here, with the support of Father F.A. Golovin “recruited” from arable peasants, political and criminal exiles a regiment of foot Cossacks of 1,400 people to possibly repel an attack by Qing troops.

At the end of May, on 23 boardwalks, the embassy moved down the Irtysh, further along the tributary of the Ob-Keti to the Makovsky fort, then overland to Yeniseisk. In the Fishing Fortress on the Angara, due to damage to gear, the embassy was forced to stop for the winter. On May 15, 1687, they marched along the Angara “with great difficulty.” Even the archers were put behind the oars. On June 8, the travelers reached the Bratsk prison, and on July 17, they arrived in Irkutsk on carts. Even under favorable circumstances, in conditions of roadlessness and the uninhabited vast expanses of Siberia, such journeys were fraught with enormous difficulties, hardships and sacrifices. On the Tatar Sea (Baikal), together with four planks, 800 pounds of cargo went under water. On September 11, the embassy arrived in Udinsk, and on October 25, 1687 it reached Selenginsk. The journey to the destination took 21 months.

Meanwhile, the Manchus provoked a speech by the Mongolian (Mungal) khans against Russia and, under the pretext of ensuring the safety of their ambassadors, postponed negotiations to 1689. In January 1688, Ochiroy-Sain Khan, equipped by the Chinese with “cannons and small fire guns,” demanded that the his citizenship of the Baikal yasak people, besieged Selenginsk and Udinsk. In September, a detachment of two thousand F.A. Golovin drove the Mongols away from Udinsk and defeated the Taisha army on the Khilok River, securing the Russian rear from Transbaikalia. 200 Mongols were killed and 1,200 yurts were brought into citizenship.

Having strengthened Udinsk, in the spring of 1689 F.A. Golovin moved to Nerchinsk. New instructions were delivered there from the Ambassadorial Prikaz, indicating that the government was finally beginning to realistically assess the complexity of the situation created in the border area with China. The last stage of concessions that F.A. was allowed to agree to. Golovin, this is the destruction of Albazin, but with the preservation of Russian “crafts” in Dauria.

At the insistence of the Chinese side, Nerchinsk was chosen as the place for negotiations. On July 20, 1689, Qing ambassadors arrived at the city on 76 large ships armed with cannons. At the same time as the fleet, the land army also arrived. The total number of Chinese troops reached 15 thousand people, while subordinate to F.A. Golovin in Dauria had only 2.5 - 3 thousand. The Qing dynasty was interested in a peace treaty to ensure its rear in the expected war with Mongolia. Failures in action against small Russian garrisons threatened to make the conflict protracted, which would worsen the already unenviable financial position of the government. The importance of the upcoming negotiations was determined by both Kang-xi’s agreement to hold them outside the territory of the empire and the high composition of the delegation. The first ambassador was the chief of the guard, Prince Songotu, the second was the emperor's uncle, Prince Tung-gue-gan (Kiu-Kisu), the third was the nobleman Lantan (Lamt), who led the military operations against Albazin in 1685 - 1687. The embassy had two Jesuit translators: the Spaniard Thomas Pereira and the Frenchman Jean Francois Gerbillon.

On August 9, F.A. arrived in Nerchinsk. Golovin, and on the 12th the first meeting of the ambassadors took place. Outwardly everything looked very picturesque. Two meeting tents were pitched near the city. The Russian tent was covered with expensive Turkish carpets. On the table with chairs pulled up to it stood a clock and a gold inkwell. In the Chinese tent there was a bench covered with expensive fabrics, on which, according to custom, the ambassadors were supposed to sit with their legs tucked under them. Early in the morning, to the sounds of a battle march, accompanied by three hundred foot archers and two hundred mounted nobles and servicemen, the Russian embassy set out from the city. The ambassadors were dressed in caftans made of gold brocade and cloaks embroidered with gold. The Chinese who came out to meet them showed off in bright silk outfits; their straw hats were decorated with rich pearls.

Heated debate immediately flared up around determining the ownership of the Daurian lands. Both sides saw them as their ancestral possessions. In response to the proposal of F.A. Golovin, “in order to be the Amur River as a border to the sea,” the Chinese delegation insisted on Russia’s concession of all of Dauria. The Russian proposal to include free trade clauses in the text of the treaty also did not find support. At the second congress of ambassadors held on August 13, the Manchus, under the threat of military action, demanded the territory of the Amur region and a significant part of Transbaikalia. In response to threats from F.A. Golovin expressed Russia’s readiness to defend its lands. According to the memoirs of J. Gerbillon, the first ambassador, despite the extreme tension, ready at any moment to develop into hostilities, “knew how to maintain his rank without emphasizing, very naturally and simply.”

Negotiations were interrupted for two weeks. At this time, the Qing troops, who had more than tenfold superiority, besieged Nerchinsk, which was unprepared for a long siege. On August 18, at the head of the Streltsy regiments and Cossack cavalry with unfurled banners, F.A. Golovin left the city with the intention of giving battle. However, the Qing governors did not dare to attack and resumed negotiations through messengers. At the same time, their troops moved closer to the walls. From the side of the Nercha River, the city was blocked by the Qing fleet. Under these conditions, F.A. Golovin was forced to make extreme territorial concessions to China.

On August 27, at the third congress, the texts of the treaty were read in Russian, Latin, and Manchurian languages. The parties exchanged letters and gifts. F. Golovin gave the Chinese a rich meal accompanied by music and drumming. On August 30, the Qing embassy left Nerchinsk. A little later F.A. Golovin, having given the order to destroy Albazin, left for Irkutsk on carts.

The articles of the treaty established the border between the two states along the Gorbitsa River, Stanovoy Ridge (Stone Mountains) and further to the Sea of ​​Okhotsk. Russia pledged to destroy military fortifications in the Albazin Voivodeship and withdraw its subjects from there. Relying on military superiority in this region, the Qing government managed to temporarily suspend Russian colonization of the Far East. At the same time, F.A. Golovin defended Russia's rights to the lands of Transbaikalia and the coast of the Sea of ​​Okhotsk. The exact border with China was established only along the middle reaches of the Amur, which provided Russia with certain loopholes for the subsequent development of the Primorsky Territory. The Muscovite kingdom was the first European country to agree on free trade with China. The corresponding article was included in the text of the treaty under the insistent demand of Russian diplomats. In general, long-term peace with China was an important political event for Russia. Certain articles of the Nerchinsk Treaty remained in force until the ratification of the Aigun Treaty in 1858.

Under the supervision of F.A. Golovin, Nerchinsk was fortified and a wooden fortress was built in Udinsk. Under the leadership of the first ambassador, incursions by Mongol bandits into Russian-controlled territories were repelled, and yasak payments from fraternal, Onkot, Tabunut, and Tunguz “foreigners” were restored. In Irkutsk and Bratsk, the ambassador collected yasak in sables and foxes worth 21,568 rubles, and in Nerchinsk customs duties in “damasks and atlases” amounted to 2,509 rubles. During the sent by F.A. Golovin's 1689 expedition in the area of ​​the upper reaches of the Argun River discovered deposits of silver ore.

In historical literature, there are polar points of view on the meaning of prisoner F.A. Golovin agreement. Some authors believe that, despite the territorial losses, peace with China was in line with Russian national interests; their opponents see in the Nerchinsk Treaty another failure of V.V.’s foreign policy. Golitsyn, due largely to the weakness of the Russian presence in the Far East. Probably N.I. is right. Pavlenko, who argued that the agreement is not subject to unambiguous assessment and both disputing parties are right in their own way. The seven articles of the Nerchinsk Treaty, of course, could not resolve the entire complex of problems that had accumulated between the countries. Some of its provisions were not clearly formulated, which subsequently caused many misunderstandings in matters of delimitation of territories, refugees, and trade. To resolve them, already five years after the return of F.A. Golovin, the embassy of I. Ides was sent to Beijing.

F. Golovin, after a five-year absence, arrived in Moscow on January 10, 1691. By this time, Princess Sophia was already imprisoned in the Novodevichy Convent, and V.V. Golitsyn is in disgrace. While still on the way, the okolnichy I. Skripitsyn delivered the royal favor to the ambassador, supported by several gold and silver medals. On February 2, the ambassador had an audience with Tsars John and Peter. The latter, having reproached Albazin for his concession, generally highly appreciated the results of the work and listened with interest to F.A.’s stories. Golovin about Siberia and the peoples who inhabited it. “For service and zeal” F.A. Golovin was elevated to boyar dignity and received the title of governor of Siberia.

In the scientific literature, the question of the participation of F.A. Golovin in the first Azov campaign still remains controversial. To some extent, it is clarified by the discovery of M.V. Solovyov’s digit entry: “Last year 203 (1695) they were on the Azov campaign, and in the current year 204 (1696) they will be: Avtomon Mikhailovich Golovin, Fyodor Alekseevich Golovin, Ivan Mikhailovich son Golovin.” In any case, it remains unclear whether F.A. took Golovin was directly involved in the battles or was in the second line.

F. Golovin played a significant role in procuring provisions and ammunition for the army, ensuring a favorable opinion of European courts about Russia’s goals in the second Azov campaign. On May 3, 1696, Peter I wrote to Duma clerk A.A. To Vinius: “... From Fyodor Alekseevich a letter through this mail reaches you, please send it overseas and to other places. You can guess what it is and what it’s for.”

On May 3, 1696, a squadron of eight galleys under the command of the “sea caravan of the Commissar General” F.A. Golovina left Voronezh and headed for Azov. According to the conclusion of M.M. Bogoslovsky, the Admiral General “was only a ceremonial figure, behind which Peter himself was hiding.” Together with the king, they sailed on the galley “Principium” with “sail and rowing”. P. Gordon wrote about a meeting with the tsar near Novogeorgievsk: “I went with him to the fort and then to my boat, where there was a meeting with boyar F.A. Golovin and with the Don Ataman about His Majesty’s plan to attack two ships located below Azov in the roadstead.” After reconnaissance, it turned out that there were 13 Turkish galleys and 24 small ships in the city roadstead. The operation was postponed. On the evening of May 20, the Cossacks of Ataman F. Minyaev attacked the Turkish fleet in boats. The enemy squadron was partially burned and partially scattered. The Cossacks captured rich trophies. On July 19, the Azov garrison capitulated. Celebrations on this occasion continued for two days. On August 21, Tsar Peter left Cherkassk by land for Moscow. How did F.A. get to the capital? Golovin is unknown.

Participation in siege works F.A. Golovin did not accept, as a member of the military councils he was also little noticeable, however, on September 30, during the ceremonial entry of troops into the capital, he was given a place of honor. At nine o'clock in the morning the troops moved from the Simonov Monastery through the Serpukhov Gate, Zamoskvorechye to the Stone Bridge, at the entrance to which the Triumphal Gate was built. F. Golovin together with steward K.A. Naryshkin in a carriage drawn by six horses rode behind the cavalry detachment that opened the procession and the teacher of the young Tsar N.M. Zotov. Next came F. Lefort, who was suffering from wounds, in a Russian sleigh, followed by Peter I in front of the “sea caravan”. December 26, 1696 for participation in the campaign against the Turks F.A. Golovin was awarded a gold medal of five and a half chervonets, a cup, and a brocade robe with sables; Fifty-seven households in the village of Molodovskoe settlement, Kromsky district, also came into his possession.

Soon after returning from Azov, F.A. Golovin was again in demand in the diplomatic field.

After the tonsure of Princess Sophia and exile in 1689, V.V. Golitsyn's government and the Ambassadorial Prikaz were formally headed by the Tsar's uncle L.K. Naryshkin. A sybarite and a drunkard, he did little business. In fact, Duma clerk E.I. was in charge of everything. Ukrainians. Therefore, it is no coincidence that on December 6, 1696, it was he who announced in the Ambassadorial Order the tsar’s decree on equipping a mission to European courts “to maintain ancient friendship and love, for common causes for all Christianity, to weaken the enemies of the Holy Cross, Saltan of Tours, Khan of the Crimea and all the Busurman hordes." The talk was, firstly, about consolidating the efforts of the European powers in the fight against Turkish aggression and, secondly, about providing financial and military-technical assistance to Russia from Christian states.

The first ambassador was the Novgorod governor, Admiral General F. Lefort, the second was “general, military commissar, Siberian governor” F.A. Golovin; the third is Duma clerk P.B. Voznitsyn. In addition to “various supplies,” the ambassadors received “help” in the amount of 3,920, 3,000, and 1,650 rubles, respectively. Sweet F.A. Golovin was assigned ten people. He included his son Ivan and brother Alexei Grigorievich in it.

Judging by the documents, all matters related to the preparation and organization of the embassy were concentrated in the hands of F.A. Golovin, who had much more solid diplomatic practice than F. Lefort. To prepare letters of faith, credentials, and instructions to the embassy, ​​they requested copies from the archives of the Ambassadorial Prikaz from the article lists of previous years. “...Order, my lord, the affairs that we were ordered to let go of, so that I can look around everything that will be necessary, although the beginning...” - he wrote to E.I. Ukraintsev. F. Golovin formed a retinue of ambassadors, a staff of translators and servants; he was entrusted with the responsibility of providing the mission with food, carts, and office supplies. Under the supervision of F.A. Golovin at the embassy was staffed by a detachment of volunteers of thirty people, who, at the expense of the treasury, were supposed to improve in the science of navigation. Among them: the tsar himself under the name of foreman P. Mikhailov, A.D. Menshikov, A.B. Golitsyn, Ivan Mikhailovich and Ivan Aleksandrovich Golovin. In addition to performing actual diplomatic duties, the second ambassador was entrusted with the responsibility of recruiting civilian and military specialists for service in Russia, purchasing ammunition and equipment “according to the needs” of the army and navy.

On March 10, 1697, the embassy left the village of Nikolskoye near Moscow, and on May 18 it arrived in Koenigsberg. A lover of magnificent ceremonies, Elector of Brandenburg Frederick III did everything to please the Muscovites. Armed townspeople were lined up along the streets along which the embassy passed; the yard is dressed in new liveries. On May 21, the Elector gave an audience and a feast. Each toast was accompanied by a three-time cannon shot. At the beginning of June F.A. Golovin twice arranged a “luxurious and beautifully served table” for the Elector and his retinue in his rented apartment. However, when it came to concrete steps towards military rapprochement between the two states, Frederick III, in response to the proposal of F.A. Golovin’s proposal for concluding a defensive alliance against Sweden with the provision of guarantees to Brandenburg for Prussia was limited to only an oral, non-binding promise to help Russia in the fight against its enemies.

On August 16, the embassy arrived in Amsterdam - the political, trade and economic center of the then world. The Dutch government allocated an astronomical sum of 100 thousand guilders for the maintenance of the Russian delegation. Accompanied by fireworks, fireworks, and sea fun, balls, dinners, and receptions followed an endless succession. Negotiations with the commission of the Estates General did not produce tangible results. The Dutch government politely declined to provide military-technical and financial assistance to Russia.

Due to the failure of the negotiations, “Peter Mikhailov” visited England at the unofficial invitation of King William III of Orange. On March 27, 1698, he requested a second ambassador to formalize agreements with naval officers recruited by the tsar for service. April 2 F.A. Golovin, together with the Russian monarch, inspected parliament, and on April 18 paid a farewell visit to the king. Having assured Peter I of friendship, William of Orange refused any specific obligations. In England F.A. Golovin, as head of the Armory, concluded an agreement with the Marquis of Carmarthen for his right to exclusive trade in tobacco in Russia. On April 28, the ambassador returned to Amsterdam.

On June 16, 1698, the Russian embassy arrived in Vienna. At this time, the Austrian government, through England, was conducting separate negotiations with Turkey on concluding peace and, by organizing magnificent receptions and balls, tried to lull the vigilance of Russian diplomacy. Austria shielded Russia from participating in peace negotiations. Private meetings with the Emperor, Empress, and Chancellor Kinsky did not allow the Tsar and F.A. Golovin to find out Austria's true intentions regarding Turkey.

In general, from the point of view of solving the assigned tasks, the Great Embassy ended in failure. The naive hope for Christian solidarity in Europe in the fight against Muslims turned into many disappointments. Despite this, the activities of diplomats contributed to overcoming Russia's foreign policy isolation and its inclusion in global European politics and trade. Under the supervision of F.A. Golovin, about eight hundred officers, doctors, engineers were recruited into the Russian service, several tens of thousands of guns with bayonets unprecedented in Russia, etc. were purchased. For F.A. Golovin's participation in the embassy was a school of direct acquaintance with European diplomatic practice. He learned to “give visits with every respect,” to wear European dress in informal settings and, according to an eyewitness, at the table he was repeatedly “fed up with oysters.”

Among other ambassadors F.A. Golovin was presented by the Estates General with a gold chain with the Dutch coat of arms of eight pounds; in Mitau he received a diamond ring from the Duke of Courland; The Elector of Brandenburg presented his portrait in a case strewn with diamonds, a silver basin, a washstand and a mug. In Vienna F.A. Golovin acquired the blessing of the emperor and gifts of two pounds of silver - “a great vessel that glass vessels or glasses are washed during the table, two water jugs, a tub, six wall sconces.”

A.F. Golovin became the second (after A.D. Menshikov) Russian subject, elevated to the dignity of count of the Holy Roman Empire of the German nation on November 16, 1702. This title, applied for through the Vice-Chancellor of Austria von D. Kaunitz, apparently did not come cheap to its bearer. “And you also want to be a count,” reported F.A. Golovin, his colleague P.B. Voznitsyn, “I’ll do my best here later, but I can’t do it for nothing, I have to pay.”

Having received on July 15, 1698 from F.Yu. Romodanovsky news of the mutiny of the archers, Peter I with F. Lefort, F.A. Golovin and A.D. Menshikov urgently returned to Russia. On August 25, the motorcade arrived in Moscow. The king obligingly took his companions home, and the next day began shaving their beards, which for him became a symbol of rejection of innovations. Boyar A.S. was the first to be executed. Shein and Prince F.Yu. Romodanovsky. F. Golovin, while still in Vienna, changed into European dress, shaved off his beard, leaving only a mustache. The secretary of the British embassy in Moscow, I. Korb, reproduced F.Yu.’s review in his diary. Romodanovsky about this event: “I don’t believe such stupidity and madness of Golovin that he could neglect the clothes of his native people.”

In August - September we often see F.A. Golovin in the company of the Tsar and his closest favorite F. Lefort. On September 18, the ambassador gave a feast in his home. “...There was a large society, they drank and danced a lot... To increase the merriment, large military guns were used,” noted I. Korb. The same author spoke about the ceremonial entry of the Grand Embassy into Moscow on October 20: “Two plenipotentiaries of His Majesty, who very recently ruled the embassy at the Tsar’s court, General Lefort and boyar Golovin, entered Moscow in the same order as they were brought into Vienna; many carriages drawn by sixes, as many as they could recruit, increased the splendor of the retinue, and the king did not consider it beneath his dignity to join the number of mourners.”

Peter I appreciated the role of the second ambassador. Upon returning from abroad, for the first time in Russia, personalized silver and copper medals were struck, the obverse of which depicts the profile of F.A. Golovin, on the reverse there is a lion with a raised sword, on top of which the motto of the family coat of arms is minted: “Et consilio et robore” (“Both with advice and courage”). September 9, 1698 F.A. Golovin was granted a boyar status. On March 10, 1699 (the day before the funeral of F. Lefort), the tsar assigned F.A. Golovin, the first badge of the Order of St. Andrew the First-Called, and on April 21 appointed chief of the fleet with the rank of admiral general. Along with A.M. Golovin, T.N. Streshnev, A.A. Vinius, the “all-joking patriarch” N.M. Zotov, A.D. Menshikov, F.A. Golovin became one of the closest collaborators and most trusted persons of Peter I. F.A. Golovin was a participant in the royal “noise” (revelry), however, his relationship with the crown bearer was exclusively of a business nature.

At the turn of the XVII - XVIII centuries. F. Golovin became one of the largest Russian administrators. He commanded the Little Russian, Novgorod, Smolensk, Ustyug, Yamsky orders, the Galician quarter, the Mint (Monetary) Yard (from May 7, 1699), the Armory Chamber, the Chamber of Gold and Silver Affairs (the last two from February 16, 1697). This testified both to the boundless trust on the part of the autocrat and to the undoubted organizational talents, extreme efficiency and responsibility of F.A. Golovin. The functions of the departments under his control often did not even overlap. However, the dignitary's main attention, as before, was focused on diplomacy and logistical support for the armed forces. February 19, 1699 F.A. Golovin was appointed administrator of the Ambassadorial Prikaz; February 18, 1700 - “the embassy office by the initial president.” On December 11, 1698, he headed the newly established Military Naval Order. The Admiral General, who had neither knowledge nor experience in naval affairs, did not interfere in the specific leadership of the fleet. He was in charge of no less complex issues related to the recruitment of army and navy personnel, control over the production and purchase of weapons, transportation, etc.

Upon returning from the Grand Embassy, ​​Peter I finally became convinced of the need to reorient the country's foreign policy towards Western Europe. The reluctance of the European powers to provide effective assistance to Russia in the war against Turkey, expressed during recent negotiations, and the desire to leave it alone in the confrontation with its southern neighbor, which was depleting the country’s material and human resources, were additional incentives for this step. Entering the European political arena was impossible without Russia returning the Baltic coast, which predetermined the inevitability of a conflict with Sweden. Under these conditions, the priority tasks of the state were the creation of a regular army and navy. For many years, diplomacy, from an independent tool for solving foreign policy problems, actually turned into a handmaiden of war, designed to provide the most favorable conditions for the preparation and conduct of military operations. In this regard, the main efforts of the Ambassadorial Order were aimed at quickly concluding peace with Turkey, forming an anti-Swedish coalition, recruiting volunteers and purchasing weapons in Europe.

At the turn of the XVII - XVIII centuries. Moscow lived a tense diplomatic life. In anticipation of major foreign policy actions by Russia, ambassadors and envoys from Austria, Poland, Sweden, Denmark, and Brandenburg gathered here. A permanent diplomatic corps was actually formed in Moscow.

In the fall of 1698, the Danish envoy P. Gaines arrived in the capital with the initiative to create an anti-Swedish union. Peter I, bypassing the head of the Ambassadorial Prikaz L.K. Naryshkin, met with him secretly. F. Golovin was among an extremely narrow circle of dignitaries privy to the tsar’s secret foreign policy plans. “This is a boyar with great merit,” noted P. Gaines, “everyone in this country considers him that way; the tsar trusts him most of all...” Before leaving for Voronezh on February 18, 1700, the monarch recommended that the Danish ambassador contact F.A. Golovin as himself, and in March he called the Admiral General there to participate in secret negotiations. Diplomats “examined article by article” of the draft treaty, and when on April 21 it came to secret annexes, P. Gaines “proposed, with the approval of the tsar, to the first separate article another separate article regarding peace with the Turk. The tsar told me that he had already thought about this, and boyar Golovin took out of his pocket the paper that he had drawn up for this end...” On the same day, an agreement with Denmark on an “offensive attack” on Sweden, which also included secret articles , was signed by the tsar, and on November 23, 1699 in the Preobrazhensky Palace A.D. Menshikov ratified. It was the first to formulate Russia’s foreign policy objectives for the return of the Izhora land and Karelia.

Immediately after the conclusion of the Russian-Danish treaty, E.I. was summoned to Voronezh for consultations. Ukraintsev, April 2, 1699, appointed ambassador extraordinary to Istanbul. F. Golovin took a direct part in preparing the credentials, letters of plenipotentiary, orders and question items for the ambassador. Taking into account that Russia does not have enough resources to fight a war on two fronts, E.I. Ukrainians were ordered to make maximum concessions to Turkey for the speedy conclusion of a peace treaty.

On April 27, a squadron led by F.A. departed from Voronezh down the Don. Golovin. The admiral raised his standard on the 62-gun Scorpio. On May 24, the fortress artillery of Azov saluted the Russian fleet. On June 18, E.I. arrived in Azov. Ukrainians, and, waiting for a fair wind, on August 14 the ships entered the Kerch Strait. The Turkish authorities were horrified by their menacing appearance alone. The show of force subsequently contributed greatly to the success of the negotiations.

Having escorted the 46-gun battleship “Fortress” with the embassy of E.I. Ukraintsev on board, the fleet left for the winter in Azov. Tsar and F.A. On September 23, 1699, Golovin returned to Moscow via Voronezh, where the Swedish embassy was waiting for them. On the occasion of the accession to the throne of Charles XII, the Swedes insisted on Russia's confirmation of the Cardis Eternal Peace Treaty of 1661, the Plus Agreement on Borders of 1666, and the Moscow Decree of 1684, which assigned the Baltic coast to the Scandinavians. In order to hide their true intentions and avoid the rite of kissing the cross, the embassy was greeted with extreme pomp and courtesy. F. Golovin managed to reduce the negotiations to Sweden’s “grievances” against Russia and procedural issues. He deliberately spread rumors about the failure of E.I.'s mission. Ukraintsev to Turkey. The negotiations ended with the confirmation of a treaty of eternal peace with assurances of unshakable friendship. The question of swearing allegiance to previously concluded agreements was postponed until the return embassy to Sweden, which was a diplomatic success for Russia. December 2, 1699 F.A. Golovin gave a dinner in his new palace in honor of the departing ambassadors.

In secret from the official Polish and Swedish ambassadors A.F. Golovin simultaneously negotiated with the envoy of Augustus II, the Saxon Major General Karlovich. On November 11, 1699, in Preobrazhenskoye, a secret Russian-Polish agreement “to have a common war against the Swedish crown for many of their lies” was concluded and ratified. In response to Augustus II's promise to divert Swedish forces in the Baltic states, Russia pledged not to extend its zone of influence to this region.

Before the start of the war with Sweden, it was important to make sure of the firmness of the pro-Russian position of Hetman of Ukraine I.S. Mazepa. In February 1700 F.A. Golovin held a number of meetings with him. The hetman’s unconditional agreement with the Russian proposals was the reason for rewarding him, at the request of F.A. Golovin, insignia of the Order of St. Andrew the First-Called. Subsequently, a number of historians, with sufficient reason, reproached the tsar and F.A. Golovin in excessive trust in I.S. Mazepa.

However, the anti-Swedish coalition created by such efforts turned out to be fragile and short-lived. In the winter of 1700, Saxon troops advanced to Riga, but for a ransom of 1.5 million thalers, Augustus II ordered the siege to be lifted. In August 1700, Denmark left the coalition, defeated by the troops of Charles XII. Referring to her sad experience, the Elector of Brandenburg in the summer of 1700 refused to join the union. In general, we can say that in Europe, Russia’s diplomatic preparations for war have failed.

On August 8, a messenger from E.I. arrived in Moscow. Ukraintsev with the long-awaited news of the conclusion of a 30-year truce with Turkey. Azov and the mouth of the Don passed to Russia. The payment of tribute to the Crimean Khan, which degraded national dignity, was stopped. The next day, Peter I declared war on Sweden, active preparations for which began in the spring of 1700. F.A. also played an important role in it. Golovin, who, like no one else, due to his professional duties, was aware of the tsar’s diplomatic and military plans.

On March 10, 1699, Peter I left for Voronezh and hastily requested F.A. Golovin: “Please come for real to the Great Quarter.” He was entrusted with the work of equipping and arming the ships under construction, supplying shipyards with labor and provisions. The fact is that back on October 20, 1696, the Boyar Duma, at the instigation of the tsar, adopted a resolution on the establishment of kumpanships for the construction of 52 ships by the fall of 1698, calculating one ship from 8 - 10 thousand households. F. Golovin, who at that time owned 473 households, three of his relatives, Generalissimo A.S. Shein entered the kuppanism of the uncle of the Tsar Boyar T.N. Streshneva. The cost of work and materials for the construction and equipment of the 44-gun barcalon reached 7,164 rubles. In 1708, the merchantry paid only 5,243 rubles. The construction of the fleet proceeded slowly, with delays and was accompanied by numerous abuses. The chief manager of the work of the kumpan enterprises is Okolnichy A.P. Protasyev reported to F.A. Golovin about conflicts with foreign masters, delays with financing, etc. The admiral wrote to Peter I about the existing difficulties even before leaving for Voronezh: “On this day, sir, we issued decrees to the kuppanstva about the release of sars and other ranks to Voronezh and sat, to her, until the evening, and once I’ve finished, I’ll leave immediately.” F. Golovin accompanied Peter I during the inspection of the readiness of the Kumpan courts and was among the few dignitaries for whom the tsar ordered the construction of a special room for “state studies” in Voronezh.

Spring - summer 1700 F.A. Golovin was torn between Voronezh and Moscow. In the capital, his main headache was concerns about recruiting the ground army, providing it with weapons, food, transport and monetary allowances. In parallel, they conducted active correspondence with the Pskov and Novgorod governors about the expected deployment of troops, their support during the march, the organization of reconnaissance in the Baltic states and directly in the area of ​​​​combat operations.

On August 19, 1700 F.A. Golovin became the first Russian field marshal general. He was entrusted with leading the newly recruited 45 thousand army to Narva. On August 22, the regiments began to set out from Moscow and moved towards Novgorod through Klin, Tver, and Torzhok. Peter I demanded “haste.” The infantry sometimes traveled 30 miles or more per day. F. Golovin was forced to remain in Moscow. He informed Peter I about the reasons for his delay: “We will certainly set out on the campaign on August 29; delayed the release of Buzheninov [with artillery. - Author]. There are more than 10,000 carts under the shelves and the treasury.” However, there was a catastrophic lack of transport: “...I was forced to give from my carts as much as I had. I order them to collect from the boyars’ houses as much as possible.” The army was forced to leave some of the cannons so necessary for conducting siege operations on the road. September 19 F.A. Golovin, in despair, informed the monarch from Novgorod: “The regiments have all gathered, but there is nothing to rise with. I testify to God that I have lost my mind.” Probably, Peter I understood the complexity of the field marshal’s position and imposed a short resolution on one of his letters of repentance: “God will forgive...” On September 23, parts of generals A. Weide and A.M. Golovin arrived to Narva and began the siege. The commander-in-chief himself arrived at the walls of the Swedish fortress only on October 14. On the night of November 18, having transferred command of the troops to Field Marshal von K. Krui, F.A. Golovin, together with the Tsar and Sergeant A.D. Menshikov left the Russian army camp and hastily left for Novgorod. "Journal of 1700" dispassionately recorded: “Against 18 hours, i.e. from Sunday to Monday, four hours before light, General Felt-Marshal and Capiten left.” The Tsar arrived in Novgorod after the defeat of the Russian army. After living there for about two weeks, Peter I “in a small retinue” left for Moscow.

The defeat at Narva caused a sharp decline in the already low prestige of Russia in Western Europe. England and France, who were at war with each other, prevented the creation of an anti-Swedish coalition, because wanted to see Charles XII as their ally in the struggle for the Spanish inheritance. These powers pushed Turkey to continue the war with Russia. Ambassador A.A. Matveev reported from The Hague about Dutch support for Sweden out of fear for a drop in income from trade with Russia if it reaches the sea shores. Austria took an openly pro-Swedish position and categorically rejected Peter I's requests for assistance in the war. In February 1701, Ambassador P.A. Golitsyn bitterly reported from Vienna: “They... are laughing at us.” He was echoed by P.A. Tolstoy from Constantinople in September 1702: “My arrival aroused suspicion; I'm not welcome; My life here is more harmful than beneficial. I’ve been living for four weeks, but I haven’t seen the Saltan or the Vizier.” Under these conditions, only the successes of Russian weapons could raise the country's foreign policy prestige. Domestic diplomacy was also focused on maximizing assistance to the needs of the war.

In the winter of 1701, Peter I and F.A. Golovin had a number of meetings with the Polish king Augustus II in the Courland town of Birzhi. As a result, a Russian-Polish treaty was concluded on February 26. Russia, for Poland's promise to continue the war with Sweden, renounced territorial claims in the Baltic states, sent 15 - 25 thousand corps to help, and provided a loan of 100 thousand rubles in efimkas and chervonets for two years. An agreement similar in content was signed with Lithuania on June 28, 1703 in Schlottburg. In the summer of 1704, together with Tsar F.A. Golovin took part in negotiations with the Polish Ambassador Extraordinary Dzyalynsky near Narva. According to the agreement concluded on August 19 to depose the Swedish protege to the Polish throne, Stanislav Leszczynski, and intensify military operations in the Baltic states, Russia, in addition to guaranteeing the return of all territories captured by the Swedes, pledged to send 12 thousand corps to Poland at its own expense and provide 200 thousand until the end of the war. rub. loan annually. Despite Russian assistance, Poland, torn by internal contradictions, acted ineffectively against Sweden. However, in the end, thanks to the enormous human and financial costs, Peter I managed to achieve the main thing - to detain Charles XII in Poland, to gain time to restore the Russian army defeated near Narva.

The increasing complexity of foreign policy tasks dictated the need to restructure the work of the diplomatic service as a whole. At the beginning of the 18th century. Russia had permanent missions in Austria, Holland, Poland, and Turkey, and the beginning was made of the formation of a corps of diplomats who did not differ from their Western colleagues in either the level of professional knowledge or the skills of intrigue. The first successes were not slow to follow. P.A. Tolstoy used bribes to prevent the Crimean invasion. On December 24, 1702, he reported to his boss: “The Porta decided: not to break the peace, but to exile the Crimean Khan, who demanded war, in prison.” In 1703 - 1704 A.A. Matveev effectively contributed to changing the Dutch view of the Russian-Swedish war.

Of course, all major diplomatic actions were led by Peter I himself. F. Golovin was initially assigned the role of a guide to the life of his ideas. N.N. Molchanov noted that F.A. Golovin cannot be ranked with such outstanding European diplomats as D. Mazarin, A. Richelieu, but the fact of his significant influence on Russian foreign policy cannot be denied. It is necessary to take into account that the Ambassadorial Order acted in extremely unfavorable conditions of the Narva defeat and resistance to the rise of Russia from all of Europe. Foreigners spoke about F.A. Golovin as a secular, sociable person, with “mature thoughtfulness in decisions” (I. Korb). The British Ambassador Charles Whitworth noted that he “enjoys the reputation of the most reasonable and most experienced of statesmen.” Unlike L.K. Naryshkina, F.A. Golovin always conducted negotiations in amiable tones, without irritating the ambassadors, but at the same time never belittling either the honor of the country or his own dignity.

May 30, 1702 F.A. Golovin arrived in Arkhangelsk with the Tsar. From there, on August 6, the Russian squadron led by the admiral headed for the Solovetsky Monastery. In November 1702 we see F.A. Golovin during the siege of Noteburg (later renamed Shlisselburg). After the capture of the fortress by Russian troops F.A. Golovin supervised the construction of one of the bastions, named after him. In the same year F.A. Golovin supervised the construction of six frigates on the Syas River, Novgorod district, and in 1704 - 1705. observed the work of the Olonets shipyard. Among others, a ship was built here, on which the Tsar intended to meet the Polish embassy. After inspecting the work in September 1704, Peter I, usually extremely hot-tempered and demanding, gave a rather mild reprimand to F.A. Golovin: “I also reproach your honor that you do not deign to take care of everything that should be done, for the ship that was prepared for the Polish ambassador and until now has stood at the mouth of Volokhov has been forgotten.” F.A. caused a lot of trouble. Golovin recruiting officers, sailors, technical equipment of Baltic Fleet vessels.

Circumstances required the indispensable presence of F.A. Golovin near the theater of military operations. Therefore, when in the summer of 1705 the sad news of his mother’s fatal illness reached the diplomat in Vilna, he only asked the king through A.D. Menshikov to at least let his son go to Moscow. Peter I, in a letter dated September 10, 1705, consoled him as best he could: “I hear that you are very sad about the death of your mother. For God’s sake, please judge, since she was an old person and had been sick for a very long time.”

The war depleted the country's financial resources, so when A.A. Kurbatov in 1699 sent to F.A. Golovin’s project for the introduction of stamp paper, the tsar immediately began to implement it. The production and distribution of stamp paper was again entrusted to F.A. Golovin. As head of the Mint, he supervised the reminting of efimks into Russian coins. By reducing the silver content in it, short-term stabilization of the financial system was achieved. Half of the profits from the damage to the coin went to pay foreign officers. The beginning of the development of the Nerchinsk mines made it possible to increase the minting of silver coins from 200 to 500 thousand rubles. in the late 1690s. to 4.5 million in 1702. In 1704, the Mint began minting a silver coin with a chest-length image of the Tsar.

In 1705 - 1706 F.A. Golovin coordinated the actions of Field Marshal B.P. Sheremetev against the rebel archers in Astrakhan. The rapid liquidation of the “rebellion” made it possible to free up significant forces for the active army. This explains the tsar’s jubilation upon receiving the news of the suppression of the uprising. On April 23, 1706, he wrote to F.A. Golovin: “Mr. Admiral! Together with the Field Marshal and Shchepotyev, I accepted your letter and for such God’s mercy here we very joyfully thanked God and fired cannons three times from the city and the fleet, with which I congratulate your Lordship with this joy, and we also expect you to come here immediately together with Mr. Admiralty.”

F. Golovin also left a mark on the history of Russian education. On January 14, 1701, by decree of the tsar, he was placed at the head of the school of “mathematical and navigational sciences,” in which about two hundred “hunters of all ranks of people” were trained in “seafaring and cunning arts.” Initially, the school was located in the former courtyard of the Kadashevsky linen workshops across the Moscow River. By decree of June 25, 1701, at the request of the teachers, she was transferred to the “Sretenskaya tower in the earthen city, on which there is a fighting clock.” Mathematics at this educational institution was taught by the famous Leonty Magnitsky, the author of the first Russian textbook on the subject.

By order of the autocrat, the admiral was in charge of the publication of educational and scientific literature, calendars, and participated in editing the first Russian newspaper Vedomosti. Apparently, in gratitude for the support of I.F. Kopievsky placed the coat of arms of F.A. on his manual on astronomy. Golovin and dedication to him. F.A. himself Golovin was the author of the work “The Celestial Globe” published in 1715 in Amsterdam. The court theater was also under the jurisdiction of the Ambassadorial Prikaz.

Only a young and physically strong person could endure such a tense rhythm of life, let alone F.A., who has crossed the fifty-year mark. Golovin. In the spring of 1706, Peter I was in Ukraine, where a Swedish invasion was expected. “For some meetings” he requested F.A. Golovin. In May, the diplomat informed B.P. Sheremetev: “These days I am leaving Moscow by decree for Kyiv, and from there to the army or where the great sovereign will be found...” However, urgent matters delayed him. Only at the end of June the admiral left Moscow. June 24 in Nezhin F.A. Golovin suddenly fell ill and died on July 30 in Glukhov. “Peter filled with sadness” informed F.M. Apraksina: “...This week, Mr. Admiral and our friend from this world was cut to death...” A mourning ceremony was held in the fleet on the occasion of the death of the admiral.

The summer heat and hostilities prevented the body from being sent to Moscow. In January 1707, Peter I reminded F.M. Apraksin and F.Yu. Romodanovsky: “Please make preparations for the burial of the admiral, and when everything is ready, a decree about the burial will be sent to you immediately.” The latest instructions were received by F.M. Apraksin in a letter dated February 5, 1707: “Minger! It is written about the burial of the admiral, and that his body should be buried in a manner worthy of his rank... however, without waiting for us.”

Funeral of F.A. Golovin took place on February 22, 1707. From the engraving, made by personal order of the Tsar, it is clear that they were distinguished by splendor and were organized as a theatrical performance.

At the head of the procession, on a richly decorated horse, rode a knight in armor with a drawn sword. This signified military valor and testified to the high social status and closeness of the deceased to the monarch. The knight was followed by patriarchal singers and monks with lighted candles. Numerous assistants carried orders, a sword, and the admiral’s personal belongings. The hearse was pulled by six horses in mourning blankets. Following the coffin were the highest ranks of the clergy, “close relatives... and princes, and boyars, stewards and clerks and other gentlemen.” Regiments of cavalry and infantry lined up at the Simonov Monastery. Cannon salvos were heard at intervals of one minute. The following inscription was engraved on the stone tombstone in the Assumption Cathedral: “The year from the creation of the world was 7214, and from R.H. On the 30th day of July 1706, in memory of the saints, the Apostle Silas and Silouan, his High Excellency Fyodor Alekseevich Golovin, Count of the Roman State, State Chancellor of the Tsar's Majesty and Supreme President of Embassy Affairs, Supreme President, Close Boyar, Admiral of the Navy, Governor of Siberia and Knight of the Office of St. . Apostle Andrew, White Eagle and “Generositea”, etc.”

Fyodor Alekseevich had two brothers: Alexey and Ivan. The younger Alexey was at the Great Embassy. In 1709, brigadier A.A. Golovin, in full view of the Swedes, dressed his soldiers in enemy uniforms and led reinforcements to besieged Poltava. During one of the forays from the besieged city, he was captured and released only after the end of the battle. For his bravery A.A. Golovin was promoted to major general. He died in 1718, "crazed in his mind."

F.A.'s eldest daughter Golovina - Praskovya (1687 - 1730) was married to Prince S.B. Golitsyn, and the “smaller”, whose name has not been established, died after her father. Peter's diplomat had three sons: Ivan, Alexander, Nikolai. Ivan was married to the daughter of Field Marshal B.P. Sheremeteva - Anna (1673 - 1732).

Nicholas (1695 - 1745), like his father, was a holder of the highest award of the empire - the Order of St. Andrew the First-Called. In 1706, he studied at the Navigation School, and then was sent to Western Europe to improve his naval skills. Nikolai traveled a lot, visited India and Egypt. Left without funds, the young man ended up in an English debtor's prison in 1714. In 1715 N.F. Golovin returned to Russia. As a naval officer, he took part in the battles of the Northern War, for which in 1721, on the occasion of the conclusion of the Peace of Nystad, he was promoted out of turn to captain of the 3rd rank. In 1725 N.F. Golovin was sent as envoy to Sweden. Upon his return in 1732, with the rank of vice admiral, he was appointed inspector of the fleet. In 1733, Admiral N.F. Golovin became president of the Admiralty College. In 1742, during the war with Sweden, he commanded the Baltic Fleet. Despite his numerical superiority, the admiral was unable to achieve any significant results, which caused the displeasure of Empress Elizabeth Petrovna. Upon retirement N.F. Golovin left for Hamburg, where he died.

From a clearly embellished engraving by P. Schenk, an overweight (if not fat) man with an ugly face, a large nose, a double chin and... an intelligent, piercing gaze looks at the viewer. Richly gifted by nature, energetic and active - F.A. Golovin made a great contribution to the implementation of Peter’s plans, which quite rightly earned the respect of his contemporaries and descendants.

GOLOVIN FEDOR ALEXEEVICH - Count of the Holy Roman Empire (1702; made the second of the Russians after A.D. Menshi-kov), Russian statesman and military leader, diplomat; boy-rin (since 1691), admiral general (1699), field marshal general (1700).

From the family of Go-lo-vi-nyh. I've learned up-to-machine knowledge, speak several foreign languages ​​(including La-you-new and English). Liy-skim). Stolnik (since 1676), okol-nichiy (since 1685/1686). In 1686-1691 he headed the Great Solstice, directed to the Far East. In the process of establishing a salt-stations, in fact, becoming a full-mass-headquarters ex-pe-di- qi-ey, I managed to re-establish the ex-pan-siyu of China, I managed to get-to-the-far-not-to-the-sewage-ru-be-zhams of Russia. Golovin ru-co-vo-dil us-on-foot defense of Se-len-gin-ska from the Mon-go-lovs and Ner-chin-ska from the Man-chu-drovs, sta-bi-li- zi-ro-vav ob-sta-nov-ku in re-gio-ne. The Ner-Chin Treaty of 1689 concluded, op-re-de-living the Russian-Chinese border and ure-gu-li-ro-va-v-shi-shin -st-of controversial issues. Since the mid-1690s, he held the position of general-co-miss-sa-ra, responsible for the ma-te-ri-al-noe provision of the army. Participant in the Azov marches of 1695-1696, in the second of them ko-man-do-val es-kad-roy ga-ler. Ru-ko-vo-dil Oru-zhey-noy, Zo-lo-toy and Silver-rya-noy pa-la-ta-mi (since 1697) and Yam-sky Pri-kaz (since 1698 of the year). In the rank of Sibir-sko-go, he was the second “great in sol-st” in “Ve-li-com in sol-st” -ve" 1697-1698, in fact, provides all the practical work of the mission: diplomatic and financial support, hiring specialists, purchasing equipment, etc.; one of the first to replace Russian national clothes with European suits. Upon returning from abroad, he became one of the closest comrades of Tsar Peter I. In 1698-1706, before the Vo-insky naval command (the central body of the naval administration), actively participated in the creation of the Russian the regular army, as well as the fleet in the Azov and Baltic seas. In addition, under Golovin’s management the Coin Yard was located, and since 1701 - the School of Ma-te-ma-ti-che-skih and na-vi-gats-kih na-uk in Moscow. He stood at the editors of the first Russian printed newspaper “Ve-do-mo-sti” (1702).

Golovin assisted Peter I in the op-re-de-le-nii of the foreign-political course of Russia, heading the Sol-kaz Pri-kaz ( 1699-1700; together with the Ma-lo-Russian Pri-kaz, the Pri-kaz of the Principality of Smolensk and the Fourth), and after his re-or-ga-ni-za-tion - Po-sol-skaya can-tse-la-ria (1700-1706). Helped to increase the number of hundred Russian missions abroad. He was a party to the for-mi-ro-va-niya of the an-ti-Swedish coalition, led secret negotiations together with Peter I re-go-vo-ry with Sak-so-ni-ey and Da-ni-ey (1699), co-de-st-vo-val for the key of Kon-stan-ti-no-pol -sky world of 1700 with Osman-skaya im-peri-ri. During the Northern War of 1700-1721, he participated in the sieges of Narva (1700) and Ni-en-shan-tsa (1703). Played an important role in the conclusion of an agreement between Peter I and Augustus II (1701; Exchange in Kurland ). In June 1703, the Russian-Lithuanian, and in August 1704, the Russian-Polish agreement about the fight against Sweden. He conducted negotiations about an alliance with Prussia, which he did not complete due to the sudden death.

Author of the scientific treatise “The Heavenly Globe,” published in Amster-dam (1715).

Ho-ro-nen 22.2 (5.3). 1707 in the Us-Pensky council of the Si-mo-no-va monastery in Moscow.

The first ka-va-ler or-de-on St. An-d-ray First-called-no-go (1699).

Count (from 1702) Fedor Alekseevich Golovin(1650 - July 30 (August 10) 1706, Glukhov, Left Bank Ukraine) - one of the closest associates of Peter I, head of the foreign policy department (president of Embassy Affairs), admiral general (1699) and the first field marshal general in Russia (1700). At various times he also managed the Naval Prikaz, the Armory, the Gold and Silver Chambers, the Siberian Viceroyalty, the Yamsk Prikaz and the Mint. The first holder of the highest state award - the Order of St. Andrew the First-Called (March 10, 1699).

Biography

He came from the boyar family of the Khovrin-Golovins. Son of boyar Alexei Petrovich Golovin (1618-1690). There is a legend that Tsar Alexei Mikhailovich on his deathbed bequeathed Golovin “to guard Tsarevich Peter like the apple of his eye” and during the Streltsy rebellion it was Golovin who took him from Moscow to the Trinity Monastery.

Under Princess Sophia, he attracted the attention of the First Minister V.V. Golitsyn and, with the rank of okolnichy, was sent to the Amur (to Daury) “to make treaties and calm the quarrels of the Chinese Bogdykhan” (settle the border conflict in the area of ​​the Albazinsky fort). In 1689, he concluded the Treaty of Nerchinsk, according to which he ceded the Amur River to the Gorbitsa tributary to the Chinese due to the impossibility of waging a serious war with China.

Upon returning from the embassy, ​​he was granted the post of Siberian governor. He became one of the closest assistants to the new Tsar Peter I in the transformation of Russia. It is alleged that Golovin was the first of the boyars to shave his beard, which earned the approval of young Peter. He carried out organizational and informational work in preparation for the second Azov campaign of Peter I, during which, commanding the vanguard of the galleys, he and Peter I walked along the Don to Azov. During this campaign he held a new position for that time - General Commissioner, which later became the basis of the position of General Kriegskomissar. For participation in the second Azov campaign, he was awarded a silver medal and by decree of Peter I of December 27, 1696 (January 6, 1697) he was granted the village “Molodovskoe settlement with villages, peasants and peasants, 57 households with all the land.”

Golovin played an outstanding role in the creation of the Russian fleet. In the Great Embassy (1697) he took second place after F. Lefort. Traveling through European capitals, he invited foreigners to Russian service, prepared conditions for shipbuilding work, and at the end of the embassy he headed the newly created military naval order. The Navigation School was also under his jurisdiction.

In 1699, after the death of F. Lefort, Golovin was made admiral general, became the first holder of the Order of St. Andrew the First-Called, was also given charge of foreign affairs (he was called chancellor in a new manner) and took a leading position among government officials (“first minister”, according to reviews of foreigners). Until his death in 1706, he led Russian diplomacy - he conducted extensive diplomatic correspondence, including with I. R. Patkul, I. Mazepa, and directed the actions of Russian ambassadors. Under Golovin's supervision, a system of Russian diplomatic missions abroad was created. In 1704, he signed the Russian-Polish treaty on behalf of the tsar, personally drafted the Russian-Danish treaty, and supervised the demarcation of the border with the Turks.

In addition to all his positions, on August 19, 1700, he received the rank of field marshal general of Peter's newly recruited army, which, with the opening of the war with Sweden, but on the eve of the Battle of Narva, together with Peter I, left the active army, leaving command to the Duke de Croix.

The first of the Russian dignitaries, by a charter from the Roman Emperor Leopold I, dated November 5 (16), 1701, Field Marshal, Admiral General Fyodor Alekseevich Golovin was elevated, with his descendants, to the dignity of a count of the Roman Empire. From him comes the count branch of the Golovin family. The highest permission to accept and bear this title in Russia, the second after A.D. Menshikov, followed in November 1702.

In the summer of 1702, he accompanied the Tsar to Arkhangelsk and supervised the transportation of ships that took part in the siege of Noteborg along the Sovereign Road.

Fedor Alekseevich Golovin. Artist Peter Schenk, copper engraving 1706

The era of Peter I is remarkable for transformations on a grandiose scale, affecting almost all sectors of state and public life of the Russian state - from the construction of warships and the casting of cannons to shaving beards and using tobacco. The young king not only possessed ebullient energy and enormous capacity for work, but also demanded this from others. Throughout his reign, Peter was surrounded by equally extraordinary comrades. Many of them were active participants in the future ruler’s childhood and youth amusements, others became his associates later. Of course, the figure of the tsar's favorite Alexander Menshikov, with his size and significance, overshadowed many young daredevils who were equally masterful with swords and cups. Fearless brave men and revelers, Peter's companions on reckless revels and comrades-in-arms on the merciless fields of numerous battles. The Emperor was young and impetuous, like his entourage.

By the time Pyotr Alekseevich began his sole reign, Fyodor Alekseevich Golovin was already a significant figure, although he did not belong to his “youth club.” In another place and at another time, the most accurate definition for Golovin would have been “senior comrade.” The role of the first Russian field marshal and the first holder of the Order of St. Andrew the First-Called in Russia is difficult to overestimate.

early years

By the beginning of the reign of Peter I, Fyodor Alekseevich Golovin was already a mature, experienced man who had seen a lot. The exact date of his birth is unknown, but with a high degree of probability it is approximately 1650, the very dawn of the far from quiet reign of Alexei Mikhailovich the Quiet. He came from an old and noble family of the Khovrin-Golovins, whose origins go back to the small Orthodox Crimean principality of Theodora or Crimean Gothia. This state formation was located in the southwest of Crimea from the 13th to the 15th centuries and ceased to exist after the death of the Byzantine Empire.

Russian chronicles mention Stepan Vasilyevich Khovra and his son Gregory, who at the end of the 14th century left the peninsula and arrived in Moscow, where they were worthily received by Prince Dmitry Donskoy and his son Vasily. The newcomers, who were distantly related to the imperial dynasty of the Komnenos, were granted a courtyard in the Kremlin, and soon the Khovrins became a significant boyar family - it was the representatives of this family who were the hereditary treasurers of the Moscow principality. In addition, the Khovrins are the founders of the Simonov Monastery. In the 16th century, the family split into two branches: the Tretyakovs and the Golovins. One of the great-grandsons of the Greek-Crimean family, Ivan Vasilyevich Khovrin, was respectfully called Head for his outstanding mental abilities. Since then, his descendants have become Golovins. In 1565, under Ivan IV, the Golovin family, like many other boyar families, fell into disfavor and disgrace. Subsequently, the situation improved, but until the reign of Peter I, the family did not have its former influence on state affairs.

The father of the future first Russian field marshal was Alexei Petrovich Golovin, who held important but not key positions during his service. Of the significant milestones of his career, it is worth mentioning the leadership of the Yamsky order, the voivodeship in Astrakhan in 1682–1683, as well as service as a voivode in Tobolsk, it was under him that the first delimitation of Siberia took place. Alexey Petrovich was a serviceable servant who enjoyed the king’s favor, which allowed his son to be close to the throne. The Golovin family owned one of the largest landholdings in Russia and had sufficient financial resources.

Alexei Petrovich's son Fyodor Alekseevich Golovin received a very good education for those times and was familiar with the works of ancient authors. Like many young representatives of noble boyar families, from an early age he was at court, where, due to his abilities, he managed to attract attention. According to some reports, it was he, along with Naryshkin and Prozorovsky, who was entrusted by the dying Alexei Mikhailovich to protect the young Tsarevich Peter like the apple of his eye. But then Fyodor Golovin was not yet thirty years old.

The reign of the heir to Tsar Fedor III was rather short. The new ruler was well educated, had an impressive library of more than two hundred volumes for those times, and was known as a connoisseur of the arts and sciences. Feodor III nurtured extensive reformist plans, striving to streamline and make the entire state apparatus work effectively, to put the army and finances in order. He treated his younger paternal brother, Tsarevich Peter, very well, who, unlike other male children of Alexei Mikhailovich, had excellent health and a lively temperament. There is an assumption that it was Tsar Fedor who instilled in the future emperor a love and interest in military affairs, teaching him to shoot a bow and giving him toys and ammunition.

However, all these undoubted advantages were offset by the extremely poor health and illness of the ruler. The transformations he began were never completed - on April 27, 1682, Fyodor III Alekseevich died childless, without leaving a will on succession to the throne. A state crisis began - the powerful boyar clans of the Miloslavskys and Naryshkins, relatives of various wives of Alexei Mikhailovich, entered into the struggle for the throne, promoting various contenders. Since the eldest of the living sons, Tsarevich Ivan, suffered not only from physical, but also mental disabilities, the Boyar Duma and representatives of the church decided to finally decide in favor of the younger, but healthy Peter. However, the political weight of the well-born Miloslavskys significantly exceeded their competitors, the less noble Naryshkins. In this situation, the Miloslavsky leaders decided to push back their competitors, using the Streltsy troops as a strike force. By the second half of the 17th century, these once elite units performed more of a police function than a military one, having lost their former significance. The general financial crisis of the state and the abuse of power by commanders led to a large debt in paying the salaries of the archers, which the Miloslavskys immediately took advantage of.

On May 15, 1682, ripening discontent, flavored with systematic agitation, bore its explosive fruits - the archers rebelled. The Miloslavsky emissaries skillfully directed all the energy of their action against the Naryshkins’ competitors, starting a rumor that they had strangled Tsarevich Ivan Alekseevich. The Streltsy quickly occupied the Kremlin, crushing the guards. In vain did Tsarina Maria Kirillovna come out in front of the raging crowd with the princes Ivan and Peter, alive and unharmed. Blood had already been shed, and the depth of its flow only increased. The reprisals against the Naryshkin clan began. The life of young Peter was under serious threat, since he was their protégé. In the current crisis situation, Fyodor Golovin recommended that the prince and his immediate circle take refuge in the Trinity Monastery. The Streletsky rebellion and the accompanying unrest had some impact on state affairs: at the end of June, at the insistence of the rebels, two princes, Ivan and Peter, were anointed to the throne at the same time. By the autumn of the same year, protest sentiments were gradually reduced to nothing. The Mstislavskys managed to achieve some of their goals, the Naryshkins were neutralized, and the smart and powerful princess Sofya Alekseevna was now the regent for both princes. Her reign lasted almost seven years.

On the eastern borders

Despite the unrest and riots in the capital, the need to conduct government affairs, both internal and external, has not gone away. In 1684, Fyodor Golovin was sent as governor to Bryansk. He developed a difficult relationship with Vasily Vasilyevich Golitsyn, Sophia’s favorite, a man who felt near the throne as if in his own chambers. Tsarevich Ivan did not have sufficient mental abilities, and Peter was still too young. Pyotr Alekseevich spent most of his time with his mother and loyal associates in the village of Preobrazhenskoye, since there were serious reasons to fear the all-powerful Miloslavskys at that time. Vasily Golitsyn was dissatisfied with the intense contacts of the intelligent Fyodor Golovin, who was respected by the courtiers and foreign ambassadors, with Peter, for whom the prince had obvious sympathy.

Soon a compelling excuse was found to remove the person inconvenient for the favorite away. Golovin, who had already risen from stolnik to okolnichy, was tasked with concluding an agreement with China. On January 26, 1686, the embassy headed by Golovin, together with the accompanying Nerchinsk governor Ivan Vlasov and clerk Semyon Kornitsky, left Moscow on fifty carts and headed to Tobolsk. Five hundred archers were assigned to him as an armed escort, and another 1,400 soldiers of local garrison troops joined him in Siberia. On March 24, the embassy arrived in Tobolsk and then headed by water, all the way to the Fishing Fortress. The journey to the East was long and difficult - having reached this place, the embassy had to stay, spending the winter of 1686–1687. in dugouts and huts built right there. From the Fishing fort along the Tunguska River, Golovin continued his journey to the Bratsk fort. In the summer of 1687, the embassy reached Irkutsk on carts.

Having reached Selenginsk in the fall of the same year, the embassy sent envoys to the Chinese border authorities offering a meeting. Russian-Chinese relations were very difficult at that time. Russia pursued an active foreign policy, constantly in need of financial resources. One of the most profitable trades of that time was the fur trade, which was mined in large quantities in Siberia. Fur trappers moved further and further east to the Pacific coast. The Russians actively developed the Amur region, where territories well adapted for agriculture were discovered. In the middle of the 17th century, the interests of Russia began to intersect with the needs of Qin China, which had its own plans for the Amur region, imposing tribute on the local population and making a good income from it. The contradiction was that Cossack detachments began to impose tribute on the local Daur tribes, and the Chinese authorities did not like this at all.

The Russian-Chinese confrontation in the Amur region resulted in a series of military conflicts and clashes, in the center of which at the end of the 17th century the fortified village of Albazin began to appear more and more often. By the time Golovin appeared with his ambassadorial mission, another border aggravation was taking place in the region. In conditions of very problematic relations with the Crimean Khanate and the Ottoman Empire, the Russian government did not want to waste resources on a peripheral conflict in a remote region, which was also one of the sources of replenishment of the treasury.

While the Chinese authorities were thinking about the further scenario of their actions and whether to notify the highest authorities about the initiative of the other side, Fyodor Golovin wasted no time. His initial diplomatic mission gradually turned into a formal military expedition, as local tribes made their presence known in less than hospitable ways. China at that time was going through the difficult times of the Manchu conquest, and yet, although the war itself did not stop, the new Manchu rulers continued to keep the situation on the Amur under control. To strengthen the border territories in anticipation of a reaction to his letters, Golovin built a small fortress of Udinsk. In January and February 1688, he had to defend Selenginsk with limited forces from the Mongol army allied to the Qing authorities. The resilience of the garrison, to which reinforcements moved from other forts, and the limited number of firearms among the attackers forced the Mongols to lift the siege and leave with nothing.

The Chinese side did not signal that they wanted to negotiate, and Golovin spent almost a whole year more in combat operations than in diplomatic negotiations. He persuaded some local princes to accept Russian citizenship, and fought others with armed force. He fought off raids and responded to them with forays. Fyodor Golovin’s ally in all this activity was none other than the former hetman Demyan Mnogohrishny, who is in exile in these places.

At the beginning of June 1688, the Chinese authorities finally deigned to notify Golovin that they agreed to negotiate and chose Selenginsk for this purpose. However, by this time, a special messenger, clerk of the Ambassadorial Prikaz Ivan Loginov, arrived from Moscow with new instructions, according to which the village of Albazin should become the meeting place with the Chinese. Having received similar proposals from the Russian side, representatives of the Celestial Empire became stubborn, complained about the crisis situation of the Albazin fortress, held by the Russians after a long siege, and declared their desire to postpone negotiations until the summer of next year.

In January 1689, Golovin sent Loginov to Beijing with new proposals and at the same time to hurry up the Chinese, who were clearly in no hurry. In the capital, the Russian envoy was deigned to inform that the place of negotiations would be considered not Albazin or Selenginsk, but the city of Nerchinsk. It was especially emphasized that the gentlemen ambassadors would be accompanied by a small detachment of a thousand soldiers. The Russian side was asked not to worry about provisions, since Emperor Kan-Hi graciously took care of the food of the high contracting parties. Before Loginov had time to return from Beijing, Golovin received information that the Chinese delegation was near Nerchinsk. The ambassadors were accompanied by a “modest” retinue, which was estimated at no less than 15 thousand foot and horse soldiers. The 50 guns attached to this army should have provided the Chinese negotiators with an additional comfortable atmosphere. Two Spanish Jesuits arrived as translators along with the Chinese.

The negotiations were not easy from the very beginning - the Chinese responded to all requests from the Russian side to withdraw their large “retinue” from Nerchinsk with uncomprehending smiles. The appetites of the representatives of Beijing were striking in their scope: they asked to cede to them the entire Amur region and territories right up to Lake Baikal. Golovin insisted that the border between the two states should pass along the Amur. To give their arguments more weight, the Chinese army surrounded Nerchinsk from all sides. The tribes living in the vicinity of the city, who were formally subject to Russian citizenship, began to renounce it and showed their loyalty to the Chinese in every possible way. To defend Nerchinsk, Golovin had no more than 2 thousand soldiers, so some other ways were needed to convey his point of view.

The weak link of the Chinese contracting party turned out to be the natives of distant Spain. Confidential conversations were held with them, flavored with gifts and offerings. Inspired by the attention paid to their humble persons, the Jesuits gratefully conveyed to Golovin everything they were talking about in the Chinese camp. The negotiations were very difficult, and the guns aimed at Nerchinsk did not contribute to reaching a compromise. Nevertheless, Golovin managed to significantly soften the demands of the representatives of the Celestial Empire, who felt very confident, arguing that the Russian army could come here no earlier than in two years, and their army was already here.

The whole of August 1689 passed in grueling diplomatic battles, until it finally ended with the signing of the Treaty of Nerchinsk on August 27. According to it, the border between Russia and China ran along the Arguni River and further along the Stanovoy Range to the shores of the Sea of ​​Okhotsk. The Russian kingdom gave up the Albazin fortress, thereby losing the already developed Amur region. Separate articles allowed trade between citizens of the two countries, and stipulated a ban on the reception of defectors. Having exchanged copies of the document, Golovin and Chinese Ambassador Songotu said goodbye to each other, and the Celestial delegation, along with its thousands of “retinue,” went home. Fyodor Alekseevich Golovin returned home only in January 1691, having taken care of strengthening Nerchinsk and settling all local affairs. His Far Eastern mission lasted almost five years.

Into a new era

During the absence of Fyodor Golovin, significant changes took place in the Russian kingdom. In 1689, Peter turned 17 years old, and by the standards of that time he was considered an adult. The confrontation between Preobrazhensky, where Peter and his entourage were stationed along with the amusing army that was gaining strength, and the Kremlin, where Sophia continued to command, grew. Ivan abstracted himself from any government affairs and actually did not participate in politics. The power of the regent gradually weakened, and more and more supporters concentrated around the youngest of the royal brothers. The crisis ended in the fall of 1689, when Sophia, left almost alone, was removed from business and sent to a monastery. Now no one prevented Ivan and Peter from ruling the state, but in fact all power was concentrated in the latter.

Having arrived from Siberia, Golovin was elevated to the rank of boyar, and at the same time appointed Siberian governor. He was accused of ceding Albazin to the Chinese, but this did not spoil their relationship with Peter. The tsar listened for a long time to the boyar's stories about Siberia, its riches and strategic importance for Russia. This strengthens Peter’s determination in the need for its further development. Of the Tsar's friends, Golovin became the closest to Lefort, approving Peter's numerous innovations. There is an opinion that he was the first of the boyars to shave off the traditional beard and stopped wearing it from now on. However, changes in the Russian state were brewing not only in the subtleties of appearance.

The new sovereign was passionate about the country gaining access to the seas, which were reliably guarded by the Ottoman Empire in the south and Sweden in the north. Peter's first military campaign was the Azov campaign with the goal of recapturing the fortress of the same name from the Turks. The first expedition, which had serious shortcomings in preparation and organization, and lacked the support of a fleet that had not yet been built, ended in failure. The assault on Azov, supported by the Ottoman naval forces, failed. But Peter, who showed that he could take a blow, began to prepare a new campaign with great zeal and his characteristic energy.

By a special decree, Golovin was the first in the history of the Russian army to be appointed commissar general, whose functions included supply, clothing and monetary allowances for the troops. In February 1696, Tsar Peter arrived in Voronezh to organize the construction of a fleet there. A galley purchased in 1694 was chosen as a model for construction. From Holland it was delivered to Arkhangelsk on merchant ships in disassembled form. Then they were transported in various ways through Vologda and Moscow to the shipyard in Preobrazhenskoye. The ships built there were transported to Voronezh and completed there afloat. The scale of preparations was impressive - Peter planned to strike the Turks for sure. Golovin had to work a lot, providing construction work and the army being formed for the campaign. By the way, he himself took part in the second Azov campaign, commanding the vanguard of the galleys. The general leadership of the naval forces of the expedition was entrusted to Lefort, who was awarded the rank of admiral.

Azov Fleet

In May, the Azov Fleet left Voronezh. With his arrival in mid-June under the walls of the Turkish fortress, Azov was completely blocked both from land and sea. The Russian fleet entered the Sea of ​​Azov in order to prevent the supply of reinforcements and supplies to the enemy. The approaching Turkish flotilla did not dare to engage in battle. Golovin himself was at the head of a detachment of galleys, searching for the enemy and ensuring the blockade of the fortress. The situation for the Azov garrison, constantly bombarded by siege artillery, gradually worsened. An attempt by the Crimean Tatars, whose army was located on the distant approaches to Azov, to attack the Russian camp was unsuccessful.

The position of the besieged became hopeless, and the Turks began negotiations for surrender. The conditions for the Turks were quite acceptable: the garrison left the fortress with weapons, and the population with property. The Turkish side pledged to hand over the defectors. On July 19, Azov surrendered. Among other things, 92 cannons and 4 mortars were taken as trophies. Leaving a strong garrison in the fortress, Peter returned to the capital. On September 30, the ceremonial entry of the winners into Moscow took place. Fyodor Golovin took part in the procession, sitting in a carriage drawn by six horses. For participation in the campaign and activities to support it, he was awarded a gold medal, a cup, and a brocade caftan with sables. He was also granted the village of Molodovskoye fortification with 57 households.

Despite the emphasized pomp of the ceremony of the young sovereign’s first victory, Peter himself had no illusions about this. The Ottoman Empire was dealt a painful, but not at all fatal, blow. The Azov victory was a local, tactical victory and did not completely solve the problem of Russia's access to the sea. The further implementation of strategic plans required the Russian state to create a navy and an army - and no longer amusing ones. On October 20, 1696, the Boyar Duma, in addition to the issue of settling Azov, decided “there should be sea vessels.”

For the rapid development of shipbuilding, Russia needed not only impressive resources, but also qualified personnel, knowledge, and technology. All this could be found, according to Peter and his entourage, in Europe. In the spring of 1697, the Grand Embassy, ​​formally headed by Admiral General Lefort, went there. The second person in this enterprise was the Commissioner General and Siberian governor Fyodor Alekseevich Golovin. Peter himself rode incognito, under the name of the sergeant of the Preobrazhensky Regiment, Peter Mikhailov. The embassy was primarily entrusted with a large-scale diplomatic mission to seek support in the war against the Ottoman Empire and test the waters to find allies in a promising war with the Kingdom of Sweden. To recruit the necessary specialists and make various purchases, the embassy had impressive financial resources.

The Grand Embassy had to travel through a number of states. Through Swedish Estland and Livonia, where the Russians were greeted rather coldly, it reached Prussia and, after visiting Berlin, arrived in Amsterdam in August 1697. Here police officer Pyotr Mikhailov and those accompanying him stayed for several months. At that time, Holland, along with England, was one of the world's shipbuilding centers and a concentration of advanced technologies. Tsar Peter, whose identity had long been an open secret, visited factories and shipyards, studying shipbuilding and other sciences.

Entry of the Russian embassy into Amsterdam. Engraving after a drawing by Isaac de Moucheron

At the beginning of 1698, at the invitation of the English king William III, who was also the ruler of the United Provinces of the Netherlands, the king and a small retinue visited England. The Russian delegation, which included Fyodor Alekseevich Golovin, stayed there for about three months. The tsar spent most of his time in London, where he paid great attention to visiting the royal shipyard in Dettford. Fyodor Golovin, meanwhile, worked along the diplomatic line: he met with Lord Carmarthen, concluding, through his mediation, an agreement on the free import of tobacco into Russia. Lord Carmarthen, being a great expert in navigation, recommended the king to hire a number of valuable specialists - engineer John Perry and mathematician Fergeson.

Having said goodbye to King William III, Peter and his companions returned to Holland on the yacht donated by him. Negotiations there, however, led nowhere. The Dutch did not want to get involved in a war with Turkey and limited themselves to standard manifestations of politeness: the Russian ambassadors were presented with gold chains with the coat of arms of Holland, and the chain presented to Golovin weighed eight pounds. Having had enough of the hospitality of the United Provinces, the embassy went to try their luck in Vienna, since the Habsburgs were old and consistent enemies of the Ottoman Empire. In the capital of the Holy Roman Empire, they were greeted kindly by Emperor Leopold I. Fyodor Golovin had long conversations with him on international topics and managed to win the favor of the monarch. Peter was also planning to visit Italy, but alarming news came from Russia about another Streltsy revolt, and, having had a farewell dinner with Leopold, Peter hastily went to his homeland, taking with him his closest people: Lefort, Menshikov and Golovin.

More will be exacted from more

During his stay in Europe, Peter's affection for Fedor Golovin increased even more. By order of the tsar, a silver medal was struck in his honor with the profile of a dignitary on one side and with the family coat of arms on the other. On March 8, 1699, the highest Russian Order of St. Andrew the First-Called was established, and Fyodor Golovin became its first holder. After Lefort's death on April 21, 1699, Golovin was elevated to the rank of admiral general. With new honors, the workload also grew: in 1700, in addition to the existing duties (close boyar, admiral general, head of the Armory Chamber and governor of Siberia), the position of President of Embassy Affairs, head of the Mint and Little Russian, Smolensk, Novgorod and several other orders was added . While heading the Mint, Golovin increased the minting of silver coins - he discovered silver deposits in the Nerchinsk region.

With the outbreak of the Northern War, Golovin was elevated to the rank of field marshal general and appointed to command the newly recruited 45,000-strong army intended for action against Narva. During the siege, Peter, having received information about the approach of the army of Charles XII, decided to strengthen the troops besieging the city with reinforcements formed in Novgorod, and headed there, taking Golovin with him. The command of the army was entrusted to the Duke de Croix, who had good recommendations from the Holy Roman Emperor. In January 1701, after the defeat at Narva, Golovin managed to conclude in Moscow an agreement beneficial for Russia with Denmark on assistance in the war with Sweden. At the end of February of the same year, a similar agreement was signed by King Augustus II the Strong of Poland. In 1702, Golovin accompanied Peter I on his trip to Arkhangelsk, supervised the delivery of troops and cannons along the sovereign road that took part in the siege of Noteburg (the Oreshek fortress), and participated in the siege of Shlisselburg.

The first of the Russian dignitaries, Golovin was elevated to the title of count by decree of the Holy Roman Emperor. In 1703, on May 10, as the chief cavalier, he conferred the Order of St. Andrew the First-Called on Peter I, who was then in the rank of bombardier captain, and on Lieutenant Menshikov, who showed courage in battle during the capture of the Swedish ships the boat "Gedan" and the shnyava "Astrild" at the mouth of the Neva. Golovin was also in charge of the famous Navigation School, a forge of personnel for the Russian Navy. In 1704, Golovin signed a new agreement with the Polish side, promising Russian support in the fight against the Swedish protege, chosen as king, Stanislav Leszczynski. Peter pledged to deploy about 12 thousand infantry and artillery to expel the Swedes from Poland.

In June 1706, Peter I went to Kyiv and ordered Fyodor Golovin to go there to hold important meetings. The Field Marshal, who was at that moment concluding an important agreement between Russia and Prussia, set off on his journey. However, he fell ill on the road and died on July 30, 1706 in Glukhov. Only 7 months later his remains were taken to the family tomb in the Simonov Monastery. Throughout his life, the Emperor highly valued his comrade-in-arms, calling him a friend. Golovin did a lot to transform the Russian state into the Russian Empire, laying the foundations for strength in many of its institutions.

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Fyodor Golovin was called upon to protect the life of young Pyotr Alekseevich. It was Golovin who was next to Peter during. Thus, since childhood, the future first Russian emperor was close to Fyodor Golovin and truly trusted him.

Far Eastern mission

In 1686, Fyodor Golovin was sent to Tobolsk to conclude an agreement with China. The mission dragged on for almost five years. During this time, through long and difficult negotiations, the ambassador managed to achieve the signing of the Nerchinsk Treaty, which defined the borders between Russia and China and established trade relations. “The river, named Gorbitsa, which flows down into the Shilka River, on the left side, near the Chernaya River, will establish the boundary between both states,” it was written in the document.

Source: topwar.ru

On the way back to Moscow, the diplomat built and fortified Nerchinsk and Udinsk. Having completed all government affairs in the Far East, Golovin arrived in Moscow in 1691. There, Tsar Peter warmly welcomed him, preparing for Golovin the post of General-Kriegskomissommissar and appointment as Siberian governor.

On May 3, 1696, a squadron under the command of Fyodor Golovin headed from Voronezh to Azov. If the debate about Golovin’s direct participation in hostilities still continues, then his services in preparing the army are appreciated.

Second Azov campaign of Peter I. Source: topwar.ru

For his distinction in the second Azov campaign, Fedor Golovin was awarded a gold medal, a cup, as well as sables and lands.

Fyodor Golovin was entrusted with preparations for the grandiose diplomatic mission. He took upon himself the purchase of everything necessary for the ships: from compasses to cannons. While in Western countries, Golovin invited foreign shipbuilders and officers to serve in Russia and conducted diplomatic negotiations, persuading European leaders to unite against Sweden.

"Demonstration naval battle in the Bay of Hey in honor of Tsar Peter I on September 1, 1697."